Bending device

Abstract

A bending device is provided with a bending mechanism, a fixing table, an articulated robot, and a control unit. Control performed by the control unit includes a bending/movement control in which a workpiece is moved by clamping the workpiece by the bending mechanism and moving the bending mechanism by the articulated robot, and the workpiece is bent by the bending mechanism while the workpiece is being moved.

The invention claimed is: 
     
       1. A bending device comprising:
 a bending mechanism that clamps a longitudinal workpiece with a bending die and a clamping die that can be rotated around the bending die, and bends the workpiece by rotating the clamping die; 
 a fixing table on which a chuck mechanism that grips the workpiece is mounted; 
 an articulated robot to which the bending mechanism is attached and which moves the bending mechanism; and 
 a control unit that controls the articulated robot, the bending mechanism and the chuck mechanism, 
 wherein control performed by the control unit includes a bending/movement control in which the workpiece is moved by clamping the workpiece by the bending mechanism and moving the bending mechanism by the articulated robot, and the workpiece is bent by the bending mechanism while an entirety of the workpiece is being moved in a state of being separated from the chuck mechanism, and 
 wherein the control unit includes a storage device to store data, for each type of the workpiece, indicating whether or not to perform the bending/movement control, and reads the data from the storage device and performs the bending/movement control in accordance with contents of the data. 
 
     
     
       2. The bending device according to  claim 1 , wherein the articulated robot includes:
 a plurality of bending joints, bending axes of the bending joints extending in a direction orthogonal to a direction of a link between two members connected with a joint; 
 a plurality of pivoting joints, pivoting axes of the pivoting joints extending in the same direction as the direction of the link between the two members connected with the joint. 
 
     
     
       3. The bending device according to  claim 1 , wherein the bending/movement control includes a control in which the workpiece is clamped by the bending mechanism, and the workpiece is bent by the bending mechanism while the bending mechanism is moved by the articulated robot to move the workpiece toward the chuck mechanism, and then the workpiece is gripped by the chuck mechanism. 
     
     
       4. The bending device according to  claim 1 , wherein the bending/movement control includes a control in which gripping by the chuck mechanism is released with the workpiece being clamped by the bending mechanism, the workpiece is bent by the bending mechanism while the bending mechanism is moved by the articulated robot to move the workpiece, and then the workpiece is unloaded from the bending device. 
     
     
       5. The bending device according to  claim 1 , wherein the bending/movement control includes a control in which gripping by the chuck mechanism is released with the workpiece being clamped by the bending mechanism, the workpiece is bent by the bending mechanism while the bending mechanism is moved by the articulated robot to move the workpiece, and then the workpiece is gripped by the chuck mechanism.